


Lemons and All

by GinnyK



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-06-30
Updated: 2002-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 04:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15112007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GinnyK/pseuds/GinnyK
Summary: Post Ep -The US Poet Laureate





	Lemons and All

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

 

**Lemons and All**

**by:** Ginny 

**Category:** Post-ep to _US Poet Laureate_   
**Pairing:** Josh/Donna  
**Characters:** Josh and Donna  
**Rating:** YTEEN 

OK, this LemonLyman thing has gotten out of control. I just got back from the press conference to find a few new things in my office. In addition to the LemonHead candy from Sam and a case of Sprite that Margaret brought over earlier I now have:

A basket of lemons and limes (from Ginger and Bonnie)

A bowl of lime Jello (which I am not touching with a ten foot pole)

Two bottles of Snapple Lime Green Tea (that looks pretty good actually)

An unmarked white bakery box (which I am afraid to open)

A catalog of computer parts with the section on motherboards marked with a paper clip. (I can assume that's from CJ)

I open a bottle of the tea, take off my tie and boot up the computer (I swear I'm not going anywhere near Lemonlyman.com, not after what I read earlier) when I hear a voice behind me.

"Back away from the computer or you're a dead man." 

I jump about 6 inches off the chair and manage to spill tea down the front of my shirt.

"God Donna, make a little noise next time." I say as I wipe the tea off with my handkerchief.

"I see you've gotten some more gifts in the last few hours." she says with a smirk as she sits in my visitor's chair. "What's in the box?"

"No idea, I'm scared to open it. You do it." I say as I push the box a little further away from me.

She rolls her eyes and opens up the box. "OK, you've gone completely around the bend, you're afraid of pie."

"Pie?"

"Yeah, pie."

"Wait, let me guess, Key Lime and Lemon Meringue."

"Of course." she grins as she takes the slices of pie out of the box.

I go and grab a couple of forks off the top of the fridge. Donna walks around and sits on my desk while I open my e-mail. She's keeping a close eye on my monitor.

"I'm just reading my mail." I laugh.

Not a whole lot of stuff worth reading, except for a note from my Mom.

"Oh God." I sigh as I lean back in my chair to look at Donna.

"What?"

I point towards the monitor and Donna leans over me to read. In about ten seconds she's giggling uncontrollably, as I knew she would be. 

"That's cute Josh. You're mother went to LemonLyman.com to defend you." she snorts as she sits back up and pats me patronizingly on the top of the head.

"What's curious is how she knew about the site in the first place?" I muse, giving Donna my best eyebrow waggle.

"I swear to God I didn't tell her."

I search her baby blues for any hints of lying. I don't see any.

"Wait, how did you find out about the site?"

Donna fumbles and mumbles for a second as the light bulb goes on over my head.

"I don't believe it, my mother told you about it." I yell as I jump to my feet, nearly knocking over my chair in the process.

By this time Donna has slipped off the desk and is giving me her best sheepish smile as she tries to back out of the room. And I have my answer.

"How did she know about it?"

"She and a few of her friends were taking a computer class at their clubhouse. Apparently they were learning about different search engines and one of them typed in your name to see what would happen."

"Search engines?"

She rolls her eyes. "You know Josh, Google. The thing I always type in and you say, 'what's that'?"

"Ah. So now there are little blue haired ladies in Florida surfing this site, reading about me?"

Oh God.

"Josh...you ok?"

I lean against the wall and take a deep breath.

"Josh, what is wrong?"

"What if... what if one of those ladies is Erma Trude or any of the other nuts on that site?"

"Could be." Donna says as she leans closer to me, I think to whisper something in my ear. Her hair brushes up against my cheek but before I can revel in the feeling she all but yells, "That's why I told you to stay away from the damn site."

"Oww." I whine as I rub my ear and push myself away from the wall. I start to pace as Donna tries to get out of my way. I pace for a minute or two but it's not real easy because of the case of soda, basket of fruit and other assorted green and yellow items currently littering my office floor.

"Joshua, stand still. What is your problem?" asks Donna as she grabs me by the arm and puts an end to my pacing.

'Uh, I don't know, I'm just a little jumpy. I think I had too much sugar or something today." 

"You think? What exactly did you have?"

"I think 4 bottles of Yoo-Hoo, 3 cans of Sprite and some LemonHead candy."

"And pie. Did you eat dinner?"

I actually have to think about that. "Uh, no, I don't think I did."

"Josh." she sighs, not really in the mood to lecture me, thank God. "Let's go." she says as she grabs my coat and points towards the door.

We walk out of the White House with Donna leading the way. I'm not sure exactly where we're going but we just headed away from our cars so I take it we are walking. We continue in silence for a few blocks until she steers me into a coffee shop. We order, burnt cheeseburger for me, tuna sandwich for her.

"I think I've made my last post on lemonlyman.com." I say with a sigh.

"You mean, I've made your last post. Josh, you really need to learn how to type using all your fingers." she teases.

I don't respond, instead I squeeze the lemon slice into my iced tea with a little more force than needed.

"Josh? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just read some stuff and...just forget it."

She reaches across the table and takes my hand. "Come on, spill it."

I look up and she's serious, there's no indication she's about to tease me.

"I read some stuff on the site today."

"I got that much. Stuff about you?"

"Yeah, well about me and..."

"Amy?"

"Yeah, apparently most of my fans aren't too fond of her. They think I should be dating someone else."

"Oh. Any particular person?" she asks quietly as I see a soft blush come over her cheeks.

I can only nod. Thank God she manages to see through my subtly and smiles knowingly.

"Ah." she says as she moves her hand so the waitress can put down our plates. 

I wonder if there's a course in waitress school where they teach you to bring the food at precisely the wrong time. That lesson must come right before the one where they teach them to ask 'is everything ok?' exactly when their customers have a mouthful of food.

Anyway, with the arrival of our food I realize just how hungry I am.

A few minutes pass as we use our food as a convenient barrier that prevents us from saying what needs to be said. Whatever that is...I'm not too sure. Donna's the first to break the silence.

"Are you happy with Amy?"

I decide to go for brutal honesty. "I don't know. I know that sounds dumb. I mean I should know if I'm happy or not."

"Well, for what it's worth, you don't seem happy."

I drop the french fry I'm holding and look up at Donna. She knows me so well and yet I'm still amazed at the way she knows just what I'm feeling. Sometimes, well most times, before I even do.

"I guess deep down I'm not." I sigh as I push the remaining fries towards Donna.

"Then do something about it."

And that's all she says on that subject. The conversation makes a few segues into small talk as we finish our food and wait for the check. As we make our way back to the White House she tries to lift my mood by listing all the things I could make with my basket of lemons and limes. But since neither of us really like to cook I try to convince her we should just use the limes with the bottle of tequila I have at home. She's not buying it and I get a crack about my sensitive system and a smack on the back of the head. I look at her and smile, she grins in return and takes my arm. For just a moment life is good, lemons and all.

THE END

  



End file.
